There comes a time when a movie loses all meaning and impact. Films that meant so much at one time blend into the wallpaper like so much black light. Dialogue that once sounded like a haunting melody is now just white noise. This is the time to update the play list, to sink the teeth into some bloody fresh movie-meat.
From Hell
From Hell (2001) does for the Jack the Ripper mystery what Oliver Stone did for the JFK conspiracy by taking several of the most compelling theories and legends surrounding the saucy serial killer, and building a mesmerizing yarn to further confound and stir the imagination. Directed by The Hughes Brothers (Menace II Society) and starring Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd), and adapted by Terry Hayes and Rafael Yglesia, from the graphic novel by writer Alan Moore (Watchmen) and artist Eddie Campbell. The Hughes Brothers do a masterful job of re-creating the caustic, down and dirty life in White Chapel London, autumn 1888, as envisioned by Alan Moore. But, what really makes From Hell so good, like the novel, the film fingers the killer. From Hell is dark, grimy, violent, gory, scary, surreal, and razor sharp.
The Descent
A wily bunch of good lookin’, fun-lovin’, adventurous gals go on a trek deep into the darkest of forests to find themselves, and get lost in the cavernous recesses of earth, only to realize they are not alone, but stalked by some slimy, sinewy creatures from black water tribunes and root fingered soil spawned by mother earth.
No doubt about it, The Descent (2005) is one claustrophobic, chilling, thrilling adventure tale with plenty of jump-out gotcha moments and unrelenting tension.
Bug
Directed by legendary film maker William Friedkin (The Exorcist), Bug (2006) is a psychological thriller set in a rundown motel in the middle of nowhere. It's just the kind of place a hard living, damaged woman (Ashley Judd) could be found, and consumed by a Gulf War veteran (Michael Shannon), who may or may not be eaten-up by a deadly insect infestation.
Even with Lions Gates’ misleading ad campaign to sell Bug as a horror movie by way of the Saw franchise, the movie did not sell. And it’s all the better for movie lovers, because now this thing can quietly crawl under the skin of some unsuspecting video store patron, not knowing what perverse pleasure awaits.
Vacancy
Two pretty movies stars (Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale) check in, but they don’t check out.
In Vacancy (2007), Wilson and Beckinsale play a bickering married couple who become stranded in the middle of nowhere (funny how there always seems to be a ratty motor lodge located in the middle of nowhere); After being teased and prodded by the creepy night manager (played with relish by the fantastic Frank Whaley), the couple agree to risk soiling their L.L. Bean attire for one night, so long as the car will be fixed tomorrow, and they can continue on in their journey to where ever it is these stranded couples end up after escaping a night of horror.
After the couple discovers the video tape in their room is not their favorite episode of Friends, but rather a snuff film, filmed in the very room they are occupying, the race is on to see who can do the dumbest thing in the shortest amount of time (hint: it’s Wilson). They are soon terrorized by the budding film makers of said snuff film.
For anyone who has ever stayed in a run down flea bag motel for even one night, the imagination runs wild, and writer Mark L. Smith took these wild imaginings and turned them into an over-the-top thriller with plenty of shocks and thrills.
For a few more Halloween movie suggestions, check out Art House Horror Films
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